Mervyn
A masculine given name of Celtic origin meaning "born of the sea".
Name Census estimates that about 595 living Americans carry the first name Mervyn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mervyn today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mervyn births was 1937 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mervyn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Mervyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Mervyn is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mervyns were born before 1970.
People living today
595
~ 1 in 576,058 Americans
Peak year
1937
55 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2016 SSA rank
#4,920
Tracked since 1905
Census
Mervyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,375 people with the first name Mervyn, which placed it at #9,894 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,894
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,375 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mervyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mervyn is White at 44.9%. The next largest groups are Black (31.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Mervyn described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Mervyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.9% · 618
- Black or African American31.3% · 430
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.5% · 185
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 70
- Two or more races3.8% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 20
Gender
Gender distribution for Mervyn
Out of the 1,586 babies given the name Mervyn since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Mervyn as a male name
- Ranked #13,538 in 2016
- 5 male births in 2016
- Peak: 1937 (55 births)
Mervyn as a female name
- Ranked #4,920 in 1916
- 5 female births in 1916
- Peak: 1916 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mervyn leans strongly male. 1,357 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 19 female bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Mervyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mervyn from the 1900s through to the 2010s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 451 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mervyn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mervyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mervyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Mervyn, while Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 85 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mervyn
The name Mervyn has its origins in the Brythonic Celtic language that was spoken in Britain during the ancient Roman era. It is derived from the elements "mer" meaning "sea" and "vin" meaning "fair" or "white", thus giving the name the meaning of "bright sea" or "sea-bright".
In the early medieval period, the name was found in its Welsh form "Merfyn" and was borne by several historical figures from Wales, such as Merfyn Frych, a 7th-century king of Gwynedd. The name also appeared in early Breton records in the form "Merwun".
As the name spread across Britain during the Anglo-Saxon era, it evolved into the Old English form "Mærwine" and later into the modern English spelling "Mervyn". One of the earliest recorded examples of this spelling was Mervyn, a Welsh bishop who lived in the late 6th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Mervyn. One of the most famous was Mervyn Peake, a British writer and artist born in 1911, best known for his Gothic fantasy series "Gormenghast". Another was Mervyn Westfield, a British actor and comedian born in 1936, who appeared in numerous television shows and films.
In the world of sports, there was Mervyn John Rees, a Welsh rugby union player born in 1915, who played for Wales in the 1930s and 1940s. Mervyn Llewellyn Hughes, born in 1898, was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire and England in the 1920s and 1930s.
Mervyn Dymally, born in 1926, was an American politician who served as the Lieutenant Governor of California from 1975 to 1979 and was the first African American to hold that position.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Mervyn
People
Mervyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mervyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mervyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mervyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 595 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mervyn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 576,058 US residents.
Is Mervyn a common name?
We classify Mervyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,586 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mervyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Mervyn was 1937, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mervyn is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mervyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,375 people with the name Mervyn, or 0.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,894 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Mervyn in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Mervyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mervyn leans strongly male. 1,357 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 19 female bearers (1.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Mervyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mervyn is White at 44.9%. The next largest groups are Black (31.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Mervyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mervyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.9% (618 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Mervyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mervyn a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Mervyn in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Mervyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mervyn in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Mervyn can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Mervyn?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Mervyn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.